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The captain of a ship was telling this interesting story: "We traveled the sea far and wide. At one time, two of my sailors were standing on opposite sides of the ship. One was looking west and the other one east. And at the same time, they could see each other clearly."

How can that be possible?

This old topic is locked since it was answered many times. You can check solution in the Spoiler below.

The marines were standing back to the edge of the ship so they were looking at each other. It does not matter where the ship is (of course it does not apply to the north and South Pole).

The captain of a big ship was telling this interesting story: "Once I saw two marines standing on the opposite sides of the ship. One was looking to the west and the other one to the east. And they saw each other very well."

How can that be possible?

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The captain of a big ship was telling this interesting story: "Once I saw two marines standing on the opposite sides of the ship. One was looking to the west and the other one to the east. And they saw each other very well."

How can that be possible?

One was on the east side of the ship looking west while the other was on the west side of the ship looking east.

Of course they would also be at a narrow place on the ship to see each other well.

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one sailor is on the east side looking across the deck to the west, and sailor two is on the west side looking across the deck to the east. being on opposite sides of the ship they would be in each others view! This riddle is very simple, or maybe I'm just wrong lol

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They must be on the two ends of the ship..And the ship is sailing east to west (or west to east)..

--->looks east <-----looks west

------> ship sailing west to east.

isn't it ?

No!

The marines are standing on opposite SIDES of the ship, not ends!

Hence they need to be sailing anywhere BUT east to west or vice versa!

Pick any two points on opposite sides of the ship and draw a line between them.

Now put that line on the east/west axis.

Providing that there is room for these marines to see each other, they could be travelling in almost any direction!

QED!

That's VERY shaky! If they were on opposite SIDES, then one was at port and the other at starboard. If the one on the west side was looking east and vice versa, AND they would clearly see eachother (the riddle says they saw eachother VERY WELL), that would mean they saw eachother ACROSS THE DECK (which is the shortest distance), and the ship could only be going straight north or south.

BoilingOil (who should clearly have a signature if he keeps posting at this frequency)

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Did ANYONE ELSE consider the life-raft? If you think about that, you will see that the answer really is:

If the ship aft (back) is pointing towards the south pole, and the bow is pointed towards the north pole, and 1 marine is standing around (not working) looking towards the east, and is standing on the west side of the ship, happens to see another marine standing on the east side of the ship while he is looking westward. But because of the time it takes for light to travel from one marine to the other, both marines are "seeing" a different marine. Which is where the life-raft comes in. So both marines are standing on the life-raft, taking a gander at the other. But everyone knows you cant stand in a life-raft, so it sinks really quickly. THUS, the marines are standing on either side of a life-raft, seeing each other, closely (time/light/distance factor is much faster than on a large ship), but for only for a second because it sinks. Maybe they should have been working, instead.

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let's assume the ship is facing north. it will help to understand the explanation, but it could be facing any direction.

the marine on the west side of the ship was looking east and the marine on the east side of the ship was looking west. they could see the other side of the ship, each other, and the direction they were looking in.

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The captain of a big ship was telling this interesting story: "Once I saw two marines standing on the opposite sides of the ship. One was looking to the west and the other one to the east. And they saw each other very well."

How can that be possible?

The one who was looking east was standing on the western side of the ship, and vice-versa?

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They must be on the two ends of the ship..And the ship is sailing east to west (or west to east)..

--->looks east <-----looks west

------> ship sailing west to east.

isn't it ?

No!

The marines are standing on opposite SIDES of the ship, not ends!

Hence they need to be sailing anywhere BUT east to west or vice versa!

Pick any two points on opposite sides of the ship and draw a line between them.

Now put that line on the east/west axis.

Providing that there is room for these marines to see each other, they could be travelling in almost any direction!

QED!

Sorry, wrong. Your solution is fine, but you shouldn't have corrected mannu. His is correct because there is no definate "side" of the ship. If you want to be technical then the ends are just another side of the ship, only pointier. Although, it doesn't really matter which direction the ship is going because if one were halfway between the front tip and the right middle while the other was halfway between the back tip and the left corner, then if the ship was going north-east they would still be able to see each other. If I'm COMPLETELY wrong about correcting you, I appologize greatly. It is 3:35 A.M. here. So, I am a bit tired since I got up at 7:00 A.M. yesterday morning.

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Wow. It's amazing how many people either don't get it, or don't look at the solution before posting. Even I got this one, and I don't think I'm that good at these things. Picture, if you will, two people standing ANYWHERE, looking at each other. Now place them on a boat. Done. Easy. Why make it any more complicated than it has to be?

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I'm not sure if that was toward me or not, but I doubt it since I obviously get it. But, you'd be surprised by how many things a LOT of simple things people don't understand on here. A lot of the people on here just read it and think they get it, only to find later that they didn't have the right idea at all. It's quite entertaining though. At least, to someone like me it is. (By "someone like me" I mean someone that likes to pick people apart.)